Life-saving apparatus



(No Model.)

BGAROLAN.

LIFE SAVING APPARATUS.

Patented Dem-20,7.

y No. 375,047.

wizfcefdded, q, .5M

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRCK OAROLAN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,047, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed August 529, 1887. Serial No. 248,127.'

.To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK CAnoLAN, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Marine Life-Saving Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for rescuing people from wrecked vessels, and has for its object to facilitate and lighten the labors of the crew, increasing the chances of rescuing.the crew and passengers from the wreck, and reducing the cost for such apparatus by saving and retaining all the ropes and other parts of the appurtenances which have heretofore been lost or wasted.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts of the apparatus, and in the method of operating it, whereby the aforesaid results are attained, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my new apparatus as seen in working order. The Inanner of placing it in order will be fully explained hereinafter. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detached view of the part of the rope forming the tramway upon which the breeches-buoy travels, showing the means of attaching and detaching it to the spar of the vessel,and Fig. 3 is an enlarged detached view ofthe breechesbuoy. Fig. 4 represents the block and tail cord on the line for hauling the brceches-buoys.

A represents a strong rope or cable, which, when fixed in place, as seen in Fig. l, forms a double cable tramway from the shore to the vessel. At the middle part of said cable I form a stiff bend or bow, B, as seen in Fig. 2, by combining with the rope a thick stout piece of leather or other suitable material firmly bound together by winding with marline. Attached to this bow is a piece of rope, O, having several eyelets, c c, fixed within it, for a purpose hereinafter shown.

D is a hook, also attached to the bow B by a short stout cord, b, and is also provided with a cord, d, the purpose of which will be explained.

E is a trestle for supporting the inner ends of the cable A, consisting of a bar, e, having pins in each end which enter holes in the up- (No model.)

per ends of legs ff. The bar e -has cleats g g near each end for holding the cable spread apart, as shown. The two ends of the cable are tied together and are hauled tight by means of blocks and tackle F, hitched to an anchorpost or other suitable object.

H is a rope playing in a pulley-block, 71, to-

`ing-cords jj, united at their upper ends to a single cord havinga snatch-block, L,attached, by which the breeches-buoys are suspended to travel on the cable tramways A A.

M is a shot-cord having a shot or ball, N, attached by means of a piece of chain a, to prevent the cord being burned oi' when the shot is fired from the gun O, which is of the usual kind.

Q is a cart for carrying the apparatus when not in use, which I divide into two compartments by a central partition, the object of which is to enable the cable and ropes to be half-coiled into each compartment when stowed in the cart,with the bow B lying over thepartition, so that when they are rapidly drawn out they mayfnot become entangled.

The manner of arranging and operating this apparatus is as follows: When the crew with the apparatus have arrived upon the shore as near the wreck as convenient, thegun is fired, carrying the shot-line over the mast of the vesselin the usual manner. Then the shore end of the shot-line is made fast to the tailcord of the hauling-rope H, and a directionboard, having printed directions in English and other languages plainly printed or painted thereon, is also attached. This is now hauled out by a man on the mast ofthe wrecked vessel, who, following the directions, makes the said tail-cord fastaround the mast. Next one of life-saving crew makes one end of said haul- IOO ing-line H fast to the hook-line d ofthe hawser or cable A, and also ties the two ends of said hauling-line I:I together. Now then a part of the life-saving crew will haul out the cable,while another part of said crew will clear the cable from the cart as it is hauled out. The man on the mast of the vessel will, as the directions instruct him, pass the strap or rope C around the mast above the tail-block h and hook it by one ofthe eyelets onto the hook D, thus making the cable 'fast to the mast of the wrecked vessel. In the meantime, while this is being done, a board platform, if there is one, has been laid on the beach and the trestle laid thereon, with the legs spread outflat on the platform, ready to be raised, the ends of the cable tied together, and the tackle E hooked thereto, with the other tackle-block hooked to the pennant of the anchor in the sand, or other suit able object. rIhen the cable is hauled taut by the tackle and the fall of the tackle-line made fast. The cable is now spread apart and caught in the two cleats i i on the bar e. Now the captain at one end ofthe bar e anda man at the other end will each raise the trcstle While other men at the legs will secure them by a spanner, s. Now breechesbuoy No. l will snatch onto the left-hand cable or hawser, then the hauling-line H, or whip,7 as it is properly called, will be made fast to the suspending-cord of the said breeches-buoy. Now one of the'lifesaving crew-usually No. -will get into the said breechesbuoy and be hauled out to the wrecked vessel, when he will see that Vwill snatch on breech'es-buoy No. 2 to the right-hand cable, and also attach the righthand side of the whip-line to the said No. 2 breeches-buoy and place the said whipline in the pulley-blocks it and then tie the whipline together, thus making an endless rope for hauling the breechesebuoys back and forth.

Now then the apparatus is all ready for conveying the people on the wrecked vessel ashore, and the man of the lifesaving crew who went out to the wreck places one of the unfortunates of the wreck into the breechesbuoy that conveyed him out, and signals to the shore-men to haul in, and while they are doing so the breeches-buoy No. 2 is going out. Vhen the breeehes-buoy No. l arrives inshore, four men holding` a sheet beneath it are prepared to receive the unfortunate one, who is let down by the captain untying the puckering-cord of the sack, and he, with another man, catching the person, who may be helpless, and placing him on the sheet, to be conveyed to any place of safety. In the meantime the man at the wreck hasplaced a second person in breechesbuoy No. 2, and at agiven signal No. 2 is conveyed to the shore,and so on in like manner all are brought ashore.

lease, he places himself in the breeches-buoy and is hauled ashore. In the meantime the other breeches-buoy has been detached from the cable. Now then to haul the cable and whip-line ashore, the crew slaeken up on the cable by letting go the tackle F; then by pulling on the whip-line the hook D is pulled out of the eyelet in the strap C, and the cable is freed from the mast and falls into the sea, and is all together hauled iii-shore, and thus all of the apparatus is recovered and is ready for repeated use without loss or injury.

From the foregoing it will be seen that by the use of my improved apparatus a life-saving crew are enabled to do double the amount of work in the time usually employed with the old single cable, and their work far more easily performed, and renders the risks and hazards of saving unfortunately wrecked people far less.

With my improved breechesbuoy a helpless occupant is much easier placed in it and removed from it, and in ease the breechesbuoy should become detached and drop into the sea, it acts as a life-preserver, and enables the occupant to keep his head above water and to oat ashore, and thus his chances for rescue are more certain.

Having described my invention, I claim l. The breeches-buoy consisting of a'ring buoy, J, having suspendinglcords j j, and a sack, K, suspended therefrom and provided with a puckcring-cord in the hem of its bottom, constructed substantially as described,

land for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with tra1nrope A,

IOO

IIO

having its shore ends connected with a trestle PATRICK OAROLAN.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. TIBBITT, F. W. CADWELL. 

